Role of temperature distribution studies in the evaluation and identification of processing conditions for static and rotary water cascading retorts

Temperature distribution studies were performed in two industrial-scale wat er spray/cascading retorts to investigate the influence of various processi ng conditions (rotation, programming of the come-up phase, programming of t he pressure build-up) on the temperature distribution throughout the retort . Retort temperature data were analyzed for means and standard deviations i n temperature at the beginning of the holding time (HT), maximum temperatur e difference between test locations at the beginning and after 1, 3 and 5 m in of the holding phase, and box-and-whiskers plots for each location durin g the holding phase. This study revealed that the temperature distribution studies are a useful tool in the evaluation and identification of retort pr ocessing conditions and in the evaluation of the performance of the equipme nt. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.